Xocolātl
by Kuroi Hakuchou
Summary: On lunchbreak at To-Oh University, Higurashi Kagome inadvertantly attracts the attention of a strange visitor. And he apparently likes chocolate. A lot. Inu/DN xover oneshot


I've had this oneshot idea in my mind for a couple of months, though I only felt like writing it today. I finished it in 3-4 hours, not counting the little breaks to rest my mind periodically. That's right: _I finished it in one day_. ***dies of exhaustion*** Nah, I'm not that tired yet, due to the iced coffee I've consumed today.

BTW, the meaning of the name of this story and its pronunciation can be found in the Author's Notes on number 2.

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or Death Note; they belong to their respective owners. I wish I owned a Death Note, though don't we all, at some point?

"talking"

'_thinking_'

**~Xocol****ā****tl~**

-o-o-o-

Koi wo shite owari wo tsuge  
Chikaru koto wa: kyou ga saishou no GOOD DAY  
Sakura made kaze no naka de yurete  
Sotto kimi ni te wo nobasu yo

I've fallen in love and called it quits  
And now I swear: today will be my first good day  
I'll reach out to the cherry blossoms blowing in the breeze  
Reaching out for you

~ 'Sakura Drops'  
Utada Hikaru (1)

-o-o-o-

With a sigh, Higurashi Kagome sat down on a bench outside the university, feeling utterly drained. Closing her eyes, she sat absolutely still for a second, taking in the scent of the blooming sakura trees and the feeling of the warm, spring sun on her face. These sensations revived her somewhat; it had been a long day already at the college, and it was only lunchtime.

Speaking of lunch…

Kagome looked down at the little bundle of cloth in her lap, which contained her meal. Resignedly, her tired fingers fumbled with the knot that held the cloth closed and managed to pick it apart. Her plastic fork fell out of her bento and onto her lap, where it lay for several seconds while her blue eyes stared at the mouthwatering dessert wrapped carefully in rice paper.

The rich, delicious aroma of chocolate wafted from the rice paper and tickled Kagome's nose, but today it had no appeal for her. She wanted to curl up on a bed and sleep, not eat something that would undoubtedly keep her awake.

She had baked the cake from which this slice had come from the previous night, which was probably one of the reasons she was so tired. The irony was that she had baked it for the very purpose of keeping herself awake and to give her brain plenty of sugar to consume during her college classes, especially during her dreaded math class.

Kagome's plan had backfired on her; she simply had no appetite right now, and the thought of consuming so much chocolate (she had _loaded_ the cake with fudge and chocolate frosting) made her nauseous.

Swallowing, she looked away from the slice of cake with a feeling of revulsion. She had quite a sweet tooth, but the thought of eating the chocolaty goodness right now was summed up in one word: Ugh.

'_Maybe I'll eat it after school is done for the day,_' she thought, poking the rice paper package with a wince and closing her eyes.

Her mother, and her friends, had warned her that going to To-Oh would be tough, especially with her grades; Kagome still wondered how she had managed to pass the entrance exam. But she had been determined to make up for all of the time she had been 'sick', to get enough education to where she would land a job with good pay. What that job _was_, however, still eluded her.

Kagome _had_ to get a good job; her grandfather, who had died recently, had left the shrine in some serious debt. Being the eldest child, it was her responsibility to pay off that debt, even if it meant working herself to death. There was also the matter of paying off her student loans, which would also take a toll on her.

'_I certainly feel like I'm about to keel over,_' she thought with dry humor, feeling the light spring breeze ruffle through the bangs framing her face.

Taking in a deep breath, she savored the sweet smell of the cherry blossoms blooming around To-Oh University. She loved the springtime, when the sidewalks turned white-pink with what to a tourist's eye appeared to be snow, but was actually thousands of sakura petals fallen from their mother trees. Another thing she loved about springtime was the warmth that the sun brought back to Japan. After months of chilly weather, the feeling of the sun's rays on her face was a welcome reprieve.

Spring brought the feeling of being _alive_ into Kagome's heart, and shook off the winter blues that had clung icily to her during the months of bald trees and sleet.

Suddenly, a voice shook her out of her enjoyment of the weather and her thoughts of spring.

"Are you going to eat that?"

Startled, Kagome opened her eyes and turned in the direction of the voice, to her right. She nearly yelped with surprise, because not only was the owner of the voice in very close proximity to her, but he was a strange-looking fellow as well.

Disheveled, dark hair sat perched atop a pale face, where a pair of owlish eyes, with irises as black as obsidian, stared out at her from bruised-looking half-moons of flesh. A baggy, long-sleeved shirt, made out of white cloth, covered a wiry, hunched frame, as well as a baggy pair of jeans; both shirt and pants looked like that had been worn for too many days, yet there was no evidence of body odor emitting from the wrinkled garb. A long, thin thumb, its nail bitten down to the quick, toyed with the bottom of what was a pale-pink set of lips.

Kagome blinked disbelievingly for a moment; had this person crawled out from the depths of the earth, where creatures lost their pigment and their eyesight? No, these eyes were not deprived of color, and could clearly see her, or rather, the chunk of cake sitting innocently on her lap.

"I– I beg your pardon…?" she asked faintly, leaning away to give herself some personal space.

The owl-like, staring eyes which blinked infrequently rose to meet hers, making Kagome's own orbs widen. What strange eyes! How could a human being have such blank, dull eyes as this young man sitting next to her?

No, she corrected herself, they weren't completely blank. Behind the dullness, like a light shining through a heavily-opaque surface, was what appeared to be curiosity and interest.

Speaking in an almost monotone voice, her visitor asked, "Are you going to eat that?"

He extended a long, pale finger, like the Ghost of Christmas Future, at the chocolate cake in Kagome's lap. At the sight of the chocolate, she noticed that a childishly-eager look appeared in his face. He suddenly resembled someone that had entered the candy shop of their dreams.

Kagome picked up the piece of cake, about the size of a paperback novel, and said, "This?"

The wide, staring eyes became even wider, though their owner did not answer.

"Sure," said Kagome, not wanting to know what would happen if she deprived him of the cake, "you can–"

The fudgy cake was suddenly snatched out of her hand.

"…have it…?" finished Kagome with mystification.

The stranger now held the chocolate cake in his hands, cradling it as if it were a golden brick from El Dorado. Speechless, Kagome held up the plastic fork, which was immediately plucked from her fingers by the other. The man scooted away from her (to Kagome's relief) a little bit, as if to prevent her from stealing back the cake. A rustling of rice paper followed, resulting in the heady smell of rich chocolate.

The fork delicately speared a piece of the cake and entered the strange man's mouth. He closed his eyes with contentment, savoring the taste of chocolate and, more importantly, sugar.

'_Wow…_' thought Kagome with amazement. '_Did this guy grow up in a cave or something…?_'

She spotted his feet under his squatting body and saw, to her surprise and amusement, that they were barefoot. The big toes wiggled with pleasure, rubbing against the little toes next to them.

Had she inadvertently attracted the attention of a hobo? That was certainly what this guy looked like, even though his clothes and skin were practically spotless. Maybe he was a mental patient, escaped from the nearest hospital. Or maybe he was a feral child, like that girl Genie from California. Wait, that couldn't be right. He had spoken to her in clear, precise sentence; Genie had learned only a few words and phrases.

Kagome mentally sighed. Why did _she_ have to attract all the weirdos?

Even so, her new companion was strangely familiar. Where had she seen him before? Surely she wouldn't forget such an odd person.

While she was contemplating this, her companion continued to eat the cake slowly, savoring every bite. It seemed he wanted to make the piece of deliciousness last as long as he could. His big toes wiggled all the while.

Kagome suddenly realized where she had seen him, and it hit her like a load of bricks. He had been one of the speakers at the entrance ceremony last year! Kagome, as a new college freshman, had attended with the other successful entrants. If memory served, the 'hobo' sitting next to her had one of the highest entrance exam scores of the year, as well as some other entrant by the name of Yagami Raito.

This guy's name was, if she remembered correctly, Ryuuga Hideki. The name had to be fake; there was only one other Ryuuga Hideki, and that person was a Japanese pop-star/actor. Besides, _this_ 'Ryuuga Hideki' didn't even look Japanese; the shape of his nose, long and straight, seemed to indicate possible European origin, maybe from the vicinity of Great Britain. So what was his real name, and why was he using an alias?

She nearly choked and tensed up further. Her hands gripped the edge of the bench more tightly, her nails digging into the wood, where her phalanges had been for the past couple of minutes. For some reason, being in the presence of an extremely smart person, who possessed a fake name to boot, made her more on-guard than being in the presence of a possibly mentally-ill person.

Kagome opened her mouth hesitantly; would it be a good idea to try and talk to this guy? After all, he didn't seem to be like most geniuses.

"You're…" she began hoarsely, and cleared her throat. "Your name is Ryuuga Hideki, isn't it…?"

Ryuuga Hideki paused, drawing his eyes away from the sight of the sakura trees (which he had been studying as he ate) to look up at her out of his peripheral vision. Kagome froze at the sharpness of his deadened gaze, wondering what was going on inside this strange man's mind.

He continued to look at her like for a few more seconds, chewing on his last bite of cake. Still he remained hunched over in that strange posture, the arc of his spine resting in what Kagome would consider a painful position against the hard wood of the back of the bench.

"And your name is Higurashi Kagome," said Ryuuga finally, continuing to watch her out of the corner of his dark eye.

Kagome grunted in surprise, her brow furrowing.

"How do you know–?" she began.

"This cake is very good," interrupted Ryuuga, taking another bite of said food. "It has the perfect amount of sugar in it."

"Oh. I– My mother baked it for me," said Kagome, looking away from the other.

Why had she lied? There wasn't really a reason to, after all. Maybe it was because she didn't want this guy showing up at her house at midnight, wanting more chocolate cake.

"Hm," said Ryuuga; Kagome got the distinct feeling he knew she was lying.

He took another bite and turned his gaze back to the sakura trees and their flowery adornments, much to Kagome's relief. Being stared at by those eyes of his was like having twin lasers bore into her. She looked back in his direction, now that it was safe to do so.

"Do you know who was the first people to make chocolate, Higurashi-san?" asked Ryuuga suddenly.

'_How does he know my name?_' Kagome continued to wonder; she was nobody, one of thousands of students to attend the university.

Taken off-guard by the strange topic of the question, Kagome fumbled for an answer.

"U-um, it was the Aztecs, wasn't it…?" she answered hesitantly; she was more familiar with Japanese history, not Central American.

"Wrong. The ancient Olmecs were the first known civilization to make chocolate. The ancient Aztecs were ones that introduced it into the Spanish conquistadors. The Aztecs called it xocolātl (2), and only royalty was allowed to consume it. They drank it as a beverage."

Ryuuga took another bite of the chocolate cake, resulting in a dab of dark frosting at the corner his mouth. Kagome noticed but did not say anything, wanting to see if he would say anything more about chocolate. However, that appeared to be all he had to say, since he remained silent.

The frosting on Ryuuga's face appeared to have not gone unnoticed by him, for once he had swallowed the cake in his mouth, a triangle of startlingly-pink appeared at the corner of his lips. Kagome watched with wide-eyed fascination as that tip of pink carefully went over the area with the frosting, slowly and gracefully making sure that every trace of chocolate made it to its original destination.

Kagome barely noticed that her heart and breathing was speeding up until she felt that her face was on fire. She was…blushing? Why the hell was she blushing? Was it possible that she was getting turned on by watching this strange guy's _tongue_?

"Are you feeling alright, Higurashi-san?"

Blinking out of her reverie, Kagome saw that Ryuuga was staring at her, as she had him. There was no concern in his deadened eyes, rather veiled, calculating puzzlement. It was as if he were desperately trying to figure her out.

"Y-yes!" said Kagome, smiling nervously and waving her hand in the air. "I'm perfectly fine! I was just thinking about how much you enjoyed that cake!"

Ryuuga stared at her for a moment more, as if studying her. Kagome reddened further under his scrutiny.

"If you say so," said Ryuuga finally, shrugging and turning away from her to eat the last chunk of cake left.

He gulped it down, savoring the taste of the last bit of chocolaty flavor before swallowing. Then he slowly and painstakingly folded the rice paper into fourths, placing the used fork delicately on top, like a chef placing the figurines on the very top of a towering wedding cake.

Silently, Ryuuga held out the paper and fork towards Kagome in his cupped hands. The young woman unknowingly copied him, holding out her cupped hands to receive what the other held. Ryuuga dropped the paper into her hands, the back of his own moving slowly against her palms after he had delivered the rice paper and fork.

With an 'eep!', Kagome snatched back her hands at the sensation and clutched them – paper, fork, and all – to her breast at the unwanted contact. She stared at Ryuuga with wide eyes; was this guy trying to _seduce_ her? He was so childlike in his actions that it didn't seem possible…

Ryuuga ignored (or was perhaps oblivious to) her reaction to his touch and reached down below the bench with a lanky arm to the ground below. For a split second, Kagome was worried that he would tip over, what with him balancing only on his toes. With the dexterity that would make a chimp proud, Ryuuga produced a rather battered pair of tennis shoes, which Kagome found odd, considering that he seemed more at home with his shoes _off_.

Actually sitting down on his hind end, Ryuuga pulled on both tennis shoes, tying each with a single bunny bow. Then he stood, staring down at Kagome with his worn-down thumbnail in his mouth. His hunched posture remained unchanged; even when standing, Ryuuga looked like a vulture sitting in a tree, waiting for its victim to die. It was more than a little creepy.

He was also taller than he had let on; if he wasn't hunched over, he would almost be six feet, which was practically a giant (3) among the smaller-statured people of Mongoloid descent.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Higurashi-san," said Ryuuga, bending forward slightly with a bow. "I hope to sample some more of 'your mother's' desserts in the future."

Kagome flushed; he obviously knew that she had lied to him. But she turned scarlet all the way to the roots of her hair when Ryuuga, as he straightened as much as he was going to out of his bow, the tip of his tongue flicked out of the corner of his mouth, licking the place where the frosting had been. The sight of that flash of bright pink rendered her speechless; was he doing that on purpose?

Without a word, Ryuuga turned and began to walk away from her towards the To-Oh building. Kagome began to call after him, reaching out towards his retreating form, wanting to know how he knew her name. But the words never left her mouth because her eyes caught the sight of his behind.

'_He has a cute butt,_' thought Kagome, cocking her head and contemplating it from an increasing distance.

Seconds after thinking that, she slapped herself on the forehead and dragged her hand down her face slowly.

"Why am I attracted to the weirdest guys…?" she wondered out loud.

-o-o-o-

L approached Raito's hiding place, his hands stuffed casually into his pockets. When he reached the young man he was certain of being Kira, he saw that Raito's brow was furrowed with puzzlement and his arms were crossed over his chest.

"So?" asked L, stopping beside the other with an inquiring glance.

Raito shook his head, his neatly-trimmed, light-brown hair not moving an inch from his skull.

"It was a fluke," he said stubbornly, much to L's amusement. "She's probably a virgin and hasn't developed taste."

L ignored this insult and said, "Admit it. She was obviously attracted to me, virgin or not. Besides, what's wrong with not having had sex before?"

Raito quirked an eyebrow at L and said nothing. The detective knew that he was probably thinking '_you're just saying that because you're a virgin too_', which was true. So what? L didn't need any sexual prowess to remind him that he had one of the smartest minds in the world. Like he need reminding. Ugh.

"Admit it," repeated L with more force, narrowing his owl-like eyes at his companion.

"Fine, fine. You obviously got her blushing, etcetera, etcetera…" sighed Raito, rolling his eyes and then smirking. "She did like you; she watched your butt as you walked away."

"She did?" asked L, his hidden eyebrows raising with surprise.

"Hey, maybe she'll agree to be your girlfriend," said Raito teasingly, a smirk still evident in his red-brown eyes.

"I don't want a girlfriend," said L, looking at Raito solemnly.

Raito merely shrugged and said, "Well, it's your loss. Oh, I have to pay you, don't I?"

He shoved his hand into one of his pockets, fishing for his wallet in a disgruntled fashion.

"No."

Raito blinked and looked up at L from his pocket.

"Excuse me?" he said disbelievingly. "Did you just say 'no', Ryuuzaki? But you won!"

"I don't want any of your money, Raito-kun. I was against betting to begin with, let alone playing with the mind of an innocent girl. So, no," said L adamantly.

He looked off in the direction that he was sure the girl Higurashi was still sitting, probably confused and mentally running around in circles from her encounter with him. Putting his thumbnail in his mouth, he smiled secretively (4), resulting in a stare from Raito; L rarely smiled.

"Besides," continued L mysteriously, "I was already paid. In xocolātl."

"'Xocolātl'?" repeated Raito with puzzlement, his tongue struggling with the strange word.

L said nothing; his mind elsewhere. Higurashi was an excellent cook, if that cake was anything to go by. The fact that she had lied about it made him even more curious as to what delicious sweets she could concoct.

Maybe he would see her again in the future. And maybe…she'd have some of his new, favorite 'xocolātl cake' with her.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) I listened to Utada Hikaru the whole time I was writing this, with two or three exceptions, so it's fitting that I use an Utada song for the beginning thingymojigger.

(2) Pronounced 'shoh-koh-lay-tuhl'. This is a Nahuatl word meaning 'bitter water' and is obviously the origin of the word 'chocolate'. Nahuatl is the language that the ancient Aztecs and their thousands of Native American descendants still speak in Mexico. The 'x' in Nahuatl is pronounced with a 'sh' sound, and the word 'Mexico' is actually of Aztec origin. They called themselves the 'Mexica'.

(3) A classmate of mine, who graduated last year, went to Japan the summer before last. He said that he towered over everyone there. He brought back his host-brother, Kita Kentarou, who was 5' 5", and Ken was considered _tall_ on his basketball team, so much that he was practically considered a prodigy. I'm the same height as he was, so I wasn't very impressed with his supposed status among basketball players, plus there are guys _way_ over six feet at my school. One of my classmates seems pretty close to seven feet, he's so tall.

(4) ***cue screaming fangirls*** Admittedly, I'd be there with them, since L's smile is so cute! Kawaii desu! ^.^;

-o-o-o-

Did you like it? This is my first Inu/DN story. L might be a little OoC at the end; I haven't watched Death Note in so long! ^.^;

This has nothing to do with the story, but I actually sit kind of like L when I type at the computer at home. I don't put the weight on my feet, but I do put my feet up on the chair against my butt and crouch like a Neanderthal. Man, I'll have a bad back when I'm old!

Reviews are eagerly eaten, just like chocolate!

Until next time, ja ne! ^.^


End file.
